CORTLAND – The Jets had a pair of players go down with injuries Wednesday that seemed worse initially than they turned out to be.

Offensive lineman Vladimir Ducasse, who is in possibly the best positional battle of training camp with Matt Slauson for the starting job at left guard, went down during drills with a knee injury. Slauson at one point came over and shook Ducasse’s hand while he was laying down on the ground getting worked on by the trainers.

But Ducasse spent much of the rest of practice standing on the sidelines watching, and said afterwards that it wasn’t a big deal.

“They didn’t want me to push it,” Ducasse said after practice.

“I’m walking, I’m jogging around … I’m fine.”

Ducasse, who got reps at both left and right guard yesterday, still thinks that he’s got a chance of unseating Slauson at left guard, where Slauson has started each of the past two years.

“As far as I know, I’m still competing,” he said.

He also was glad to hear that general manager Mike Tannenbaum said Tuesday that Ducasse is a “young, emerging player” on the roster.

“It always gives you confidence anytime they talk about you,” he said. “It just makes you want to push yourself to get better every day.”

Nose tackle Sione Pouha also suffered an injury early in practice, as he left the field with a towel pressed to his forehead. He later returned with a large bandage over his left eye, which was covering stitches that closed a cut.

“Just a little nick,” Pouha said of the cut, which required five or six stitches to close. “I think fingers and stuff got in the way.

“Nothing major … I’m good.”

Pouha said that the stitches won’t interfere with him practicing, saying the training staff has ways of protecting them when players have their helmets on.

He did think it might impact him in one way, however.

“I think I have to review my modeling career now,” he said with a smile. “We’ll see what happens.”